Crooked Lake Water Level

Jack Griffin of Delton is shown here in the middle the street at the bottom of his driveway on East Shore Drive. (Photos by Scott Harmsen.) This car slowly plows through the water over East Shore Drive in Delton. This section of the road is covered in water that has overflowed from a swampy area to the east of the road.

Jack Griffin has sandbags piled on his seawall on the lake side of his deck. The pump attached to the green hose pumps water back into Crooked Lake. The water goes up and under his deck. His dock usually goes straight out into the lake from the seawall.

Preparations are being made to lower the lake level by pumping the water to the north side of Delton Road at Stoney Point Drive.

Water closes roads, reaches new highs

Luke Froncheck Contributing Writer Geese were swimming around on M-43 on Wednesday afternoon.

The water level on Crooked Lake is so high it's closing the roads.

Currently, M-43, East Shore Drive, Oak Drive and some other roads near the lake are water covered.

“I can still get through, but I’m in a four-wheel drive truck,” Barry Township Police Chief Mark Doster said. “People just need to use their intelligence as far as the wake they’re creating and the possibility of water coming into their vehicles.

“Four or six more inches and I won’t be able to get through. It’s going to get tough. Residents just need to go real slow and be aware of the wake they’re creating.”

Barry County Drain Commissioner Jim Dull said the highest lake level there last year was 927.5 and that was for a short duration at the end of May. “We're at 927.75 or more now,” Dull said. “This water is three inches higher than what our sandbag dam was all winter. That's how bad it is. It's probably going to be worse.”

More rain is in the forecast.

“One of my biggest concerns is whether or not emergency vehicles can make it down my road when it's flooded,” Crooked Lake resident Kim Devries said.

Dull said police and fire officials have told him that they can still make it down the flooded roads. “Emergency services said they can still get to every resident if need be. The fire chief is checking it every couple of days.”

“This has become a health and human safety issue,” resident Deb Engelhardt said.

Resident Jack Griffin said he's lived on Crooked Lake for 30 years. He's got sandbags around his deck and is running a pump to move the water from behind the sandbags back into the lake.

Power outages are a major concern, he said, since that means the pumps aren't working.

In some locations, residents are no longer receiving mail delivery from the post office because mail carriers can no longer get safely through the water.

According to the U.S. Postal Service office in Delton, the condition below the road is deteriorating creating much larger potholes and more dangerous driving conditions. The Delton post office is currently holding mail for a 30-day period or until the water recedes. Post office boxes also are available to residents who are no longer getting mail, but that is at the resident’s expense.

Doster said that, as the water on the roads gets higher, the effect a car can have increases. Just like a boat on a lake, if a car travels through a flooded road, it creates a wake and a series of waves that push water onto properties and sometimes even into homes.

Residents say ducks are swimming where backyards used to be. There are no beaches – just water where land used to be.